This invention is generally in the area of polyanhydride synthesis and is in particular a method and reagents for polymerizing extremely pure polyanhydrides using solution polymerization.
Polyanhydrides are particularly useful for biomedical applications, especially in drug delivery devices, since they are biodegradable, undergo surface erosion and have erosion rates that can be changed several thousandfold by simple changes in the choice of the monomers. However, the methods for preparing highly pure polyanhydrides frequently require a number of processing steps, involve compounds which can leave toxic residues in the polyanhydride to be used in making the drug delivery device, and yield low molecular weight polymers due to hydrolysis of the anhydride bonds during purification.
At the present time, polyanhydrides are most commonly prepared by melt polycondensation. In this method, dicarboxylic acid monomers (the diacids) are first converted to the mixed anhydride with acetic acid and then polymerized under vacuum at elevated temperatures to yield the polyhydrides. In the preferred method, the temperature is limited and a dry ice trap is used to maximize the molecular weight of the final product. Purer polymers are obtained using highly purified diacids and prepolymers. Unfortunately, due to the high temperatures, this method is limited to heat-stable monomers.
A second method for polymerizing polyanhydrides is solution polymerization. Solution polymerization appears to be the method of choice for heat sensitive monomers. A variety of solution polymerizations of polyanhydrides at ambient temperatures have been reported, for example, by Yoda, et al., Bull. Chem. Soc. Japan 32, 1120 (1959) and Subramanyam, et al. Macromol. Sci. Chem. 822 (1), 23 (1985). Since the formation of an anhydride is essentially a dehydrative coupling of two carboxyl groups, it can be effected at room temperature by a dehydrochlorination between a diacid and a dicarboxylic acid in the presence of a base to yield the polyanhydride and the base.HCl, a reaction known as a Schotten-Baumann condensation. Polymerization at low temperatures in solution is also possible using a powerful dehydrative coupling reagent.
As described by Leong, et al., in Macromolecules 20(4), 705 (1987), this method also has a number of limitations. Leong et al examined melt-polycondensation, dehydrochlorination, and dehydrative coupling, focusing on the use of organophosphorus catalysts in the latter. He noted a number of specific disadvantages to the methods. The molecular weight of the polymer which is produced is frequently low, for example, polyterephthalic anhydride synthesized by dehydrative coupling has a molecular weight of only about 2100. Further, there are problems with the isolation and hydrolysis of the final product. Partial hydrolysis of the diacid chloride in the presence of pyridine as an acid acceptor is one cause of low molecular weight polymers. The dehydration coupling agents may also detrimentally affect polyanhydride formation, as reported for N,N-Bis(2-oxo-3-oxazoidinyl)phosphinic chloride, phenyl N-phenylphosphoramidochloridate, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, and chlorosulfonyl isocyanate, which yielded impure polymers of low molecular weight. Further, the final products contain polymerization byproducts such as aminehydrochloride and dehydrative agent residues which have to be removed by washing with protic solvents. The washing step may cause hydrolysis of the polymer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for polymerization of heat sensitive monomers including dipeptides and therapeutically active diacids.
It is another object of the present invention to provide coupling agents for use in solution polymerizations of polyanhydrides.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method using the coupling agents to provide a single-step polymerization method for polyanhydrides, not requiring additional steps for the removal of byproducts.